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Flour Sack Friday: A Saved Lunch

Although I usually like to show food on this blog that is pleasing to the eye and tasty on the tongue, I thought this worthy of a Flour Sack Friday post.  Last week, since we were heading out the door for a library run and in a hurry to eat, I made some quick pizzas for lunch.  I added shredded mozzarella, homemade pizza sauce and natural pepperoni slices atop a few whole-grain english muffins and popped them into the oven.  After a little bit, I realized that they weren't browning on top, so I turned on the broiler. 

Then I walked away...

After about a minute (really truly just a minute), my youngest innocently asked, "Mom, what's that smell?  Something's burning."

To that I answered, wide-eyed, "What?!" and raced like a madwoman into the kitchen.  (Mind you my two older children were sitting within close proximity to the oven, but of course they didn't smell anything.  Their olfactory systems have been hijacked by head colds, I guessed.)


I yanked open the oven door, pulled out the tray of pizzas and was instantly greeted with a choir of "Awwwww!!!!"  All 5 of us couldn't have timed our response more perfectly.  "Awwwww!!!  Such unison!

Well at that point, I thought that we'd throw out the burnt concoction, grab our library books and coats and run to the nearest fast-food place for a quick bite to eat. 

But my daughter saved the day, Flour Sack Friday style.  I grabbed my camera for a Flour Sack Friday photo shoot (ha!) while she and son #2 began pulling off the burnt part (only the cheese had succumbed) and reassembled the pizzas with the pepperoni and some new mozzarella. 

We popped them back into the oven, and this time...I DID NOT walk away. I'd say, they came out pretty well.  And they were warm, yummy and saved us a few dollars in the process.   
By the way, my husband said that instead of calling this Flour Sack Friday style, I could have called it Bachelor Food Style.

Thank you, daughter for some quick thinking. 

Have a productive weekend!

 

Flour Sack Friday: Heart Day Preparations

 

Since Valentine's Day is just around the corner, offering a little jolt of color in an otherwise dreary landscape, I thought it would be pleasant to prepare for it's arrival, handmade-style.  In keeping with Flour Sack Friday, I wanted this year's Valentine's Day to be more about sharing thoughts and creating with our hands some unique gifts that express our love and gratitude for others. Not that I'm against buying ready-made items.  We I do an awful lot of window-shopping and purchasing of goodies, but how many little cheaply-made plastic items or glitter-wrapped pencils or artificially flavored candies & chocolates does anyone need?  (or want?) 

daughter's creations

Then too, the selection available of most store-bought cards leaves something to be desired.  They're overpriced, often cliche or just plain inappropriate.  Unless someone has included some special words written in a store-bought card, or the artwork on the front is spectacular (or if it's from Etsy, hence, handmade), I have to admit that after the sentiment is enjoyed, the card often gets tossed in the circular bin.  (I guess I could cut it apart and recycle it somehow...) On the other hand, handmade cards are collected & cherished.  Already I have a small hill of handmade goodness hidden away for safekeeping. 

 

Whew!  A little wordy...

 

With all of that in mind and the idea of being resourceful with what we have, I knew we needed to do some prep work to enjoy the upcoming day. And if you're wondering...yes, we will be using some store-bought items to make handmade stuffs.

Written Sentiments:
the kids are busy with making their own unique handmade cards (the ones above are my daughter's) and the one below (in progress) is from my youngest.  2nd son is secretly working on a stop-action animated card.  Not sure if oldest will be producing anything other than a smile and a hug.  Such a variety of styles! 

Edible Stuffs:
oh, I'm sure there will be home-baked cookies... not sure what else at the moment.  Sort of depends on what this weekend has in store.  

Ambience:
oh course, setting the atmosphere for the day is fun too.  I'm thinking 'flowers' and garlands.  All papery decorations. 
What about you?  Are you keeping it simple?  Extravagant?  Store-bought?  Handmade? 

Have yet another warm weekend!

Flour Sack Friday: Crème Fraîche

You may have guessed by now, that we like to be adventurous in trying new foods and branching out with food combinations.  Within reason of course.  I still have no desire to eat cow tongue or liver.  Liverwurst with red onion, lettuce, dijon mustard on pumpernickel is absolutely delicious, and although it is Tucker's favorite food, liver by itself?  Well...

I do realize that Crème Fraîche is not necessarily considered adventurous, but it is something that I never thought I'd make on my own.  Was it the French name that I found intimidating?  Or not knowing exactly what it was and assuming it would be too difficult to attempt?

When reading Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food again, I found a recipe for it.  I read the directions and re-read them.  How incredibly simple!  (I guess that's why it's in her cookbook?) 

All you need is 1 cup heavy cream* (I used whipping) and 1 Tbsp buttermilk.
Put both into a clean container; stir together well. 
Cover loosely and set on countertop (at room temp) for 24 hours until thickened. 

Alice says that the time is somewhat relative to the temperature of the room.  I suppose if it's in the middle of a hot summer, you may not want to leave it unrefrigerated that long. 

After 24 hours, tighten the lid & pop it into the fridge. 
It will thicken further, and she said you should expect a slight tang to develop.
It should last 10 days in the refrigerator. 

So in honor of Flour Sack Friday, I thank you, Alice Waters.  Now I won't have to spend an exorbitant amount of $$ for a tiny bit of store-bought cultured cream.  And it's homemade (at least somewhat since I did have to purchase the cream & buttermilk.  I haven't saved up enough for a cow!) Now I'm left with the remainder of the whipping cream and buttermilk (bought too much).  Need to find something to do with those items... any suggestions?

Have another warm weekend! 

*heavy cream should NOT be ultra pasteurized

Flour Sack Friday: Library Love

Since I can remember, I have always had a fondness for the library.  The smell of the books, albeit musty at times, the crinkling of papers, the whispered conversations, and the now-obsolete but then very important subtle thwack of the library stamp hitting the ink pad and depositing its return date on your book, all added to the specialness of the place.  And if you were so fortunate to have a smile thrown your way from an unusually happy librarian, that was just icing on the cake.  Owning a library card was like owning a very unique key.  A key that could open up doors to all kinds of places, real & imagined.   

During rare occasions and living situations, I could actually walk to the library. It soon became apparent however, that my mountain of books few selections were too much for me to carry in one trip and required the use of a car or some such thing.  Before my children were born, I would often use my lunch hour (when I worked 'outside the home' - what's that? - don't recall it now - ha!) to wolf down the contents of my brown bag and race over to the libary and spend as many minutes remaining perusing the stacks of books.  With my arms laden with treasures, I would race back to work in the knick of time and wait until the end of the work day so I could merrily drive home and anticipate the leisurely time with which I could look at, drool over & read (once in awhile) my loot.

The habit only continued after having babies.  When my children were preschoolers, the library offered a quiet place to study and to breathe.  On a weekday evening or part of a Saturday afternoon, I would leave my husband in charge of the children and steal away to the library for some alone time.  Of course, I still came home with a truckload of free items that I had borrowed with my library card.  The only difference was that my arms became heavy with picture books and reading books and easy readers and books on tape.

When my children were old enough to realize that every book on the library shelves did not have to be taken off its shelf to stand on or to throw, and they finally decided that they'd rather actually read a book rather than play with the toys in the kids' area, they accompanied me to my favorite place.  Getting their very own library card was a big deal with some minor pomp & circumstance added in accordingly. And practicing our 'library voice' was also a big deal so as to not upset the librarians. On our Library Day visit, we would traipse together into the world of imagination or reality, depending on which genre of book we/they/I chose. My children were happy with their selections; I was happy with a quiet and free outing.

That is, until the library fines!

But this post is not for mentioning that.  This Flour Sack Friday post is about how wonderful and free (minus fines) the library is.  It offers lots of things to read, watch and do for people of all ages.  (I've only scratched the surface as to what our present library offers.) We still have a Library Day even though the actual day might change from week to week.  We still return home with boatloads of books and movies and books on tape (and eek! the dreaded computer games once in awhile!).  Really, the public library is a great 'invention'. 

Flour Sack Friday: Butter

Almost a year ago, a friend began a new little blog called the Flour Sack Experiment, started mainly for saving money and some nostalgia thrown in.  You can go here to read her initial post explaining her reasons for beginning the 'experiment'.  Since then, she has combined her blogs and now makes a Flour Sack Friday post on certain Fridays on her main blog. 

I thought it would be fun every now and then to jump in with a Flour Sack Friday post too.  Simplifying, reusing...being more resourceful and saving money is always a helpful thing.  So my first FSF post is about butter.

Yes, butter.

We are a butter-loving family.

Although I would love to try my hand at churning butter (well maybe not) and making flavored butters, I'll leave that notion for another post. This post is about being resourceful with butter wrappers.  For those of you who are so inclined to use butter reguarly, instead of throwing the butter wrapper in the trash, why not fold it up & store it in a baggie in your refrigerator?  When you need to grease a baking pan and don't want to use a cooking spray, just take a wrapper out and voila!  Saves you from having to use part of a new stick of butter for all the greasing!